Thursday, October 27, 2011

All in the Gallo Family - William Hill Napa Valley Chardonnay

Continuing
with my Gallo tasting we move to the William Hill Estate Winery, 2009
Napa Valley Chardonnay. If you do not like a heavy, oaky, buttery
Chardonnay this is not the wine for you.

The Chardonnay
grapes were pressed as whole clusters. After settling overnight they
were racked, inoculated and fermented in new and used oak barrels and
all the wine underwent malolactic fermentation. Some of the wine was
racked off the lees after primary fermentation, others were allowed to
sit on the lees during aging. The final blending, blended the two lots.

This
wine had quite a body to it. On the nose I got some toasty oak and a
hint of spice with some butter. The palate lends itself to some tree
fruit flavors and a long finish with hints of melted butter. The oak was
well balanced. It does have a hint of sweetness to it with .67 g/100ml
of residual sugar to balance out the acidity.

This would be a great wine to pair with lobster tails! This wine retails for $25